Patna: The Lord Buddha statues that tourists buy from the markets of Bodhgaya are made by Rajasthani nomads who live in Patharkatti village near Gaya. The Rajasthani nomads, who have a tradition of stone carving, settled down in Patharkatti village hundreds of years ago. Apart from Buddha statues, other small stone statues they make also happen to be tourists' favourite buys.
City girls Sukriti Roy and Yashi Malviya are set to launch a travel portal on Saturday that would focus on many such less-talked-about destinations of Bihar and the stories surrounding them. The travel portal, Bihar Bytes (www.biharbytes.com), will be launched by Super 30 founder Anand Kumar.
Both Sukriti and Yashi are alumni of Patna Women's College.
"One can explore the travel stories apart from other details such as how to reach a particular destination, hotels and if there is homestay facility among other details on our travel portal," said Yashi. "Though the concept of homestay is not very popular in the state but wherever our team is going, we are making sure to make local people aware about it. In fact, we have got the nod from a few people for starting homestay at their places. We will share their contact details on the portal."
Sukriti divulged more details of the lesser known destinations that will figure on the portal.
"There is a place called Nepura near Rajgir where every family is involved for generations in the weaving of silk and cotton. I met a 21-year-old man, Dashrath, who was into the weaving trade along with his father and he said his mother and other family members were also involved in the trade. We did not find a single house which was not involved into weaving, but their condition is not very good. We have decided to arrange exhibitions for such artistes through our portal later," Sukriti said.
The palaces at Simultala will also find mention on the portal. "Simultala has a lot of palaces which not many people know about," Sukriti said. "For example, there is a palace of the then general viceroy of British India apart from a palace of the Dhaka queen and there is also a place which was visited by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. We are also covering the history of monuments in Patna on our portal and you will get to see some amazing details of the state capital's history."
Yashi said the portal would also have details of local people whom one can contact for getting better knowledge of a particular place.
"These local people would be able to make one acquainted about the history and culture of that place and in lieu of that you would pay them some fixed amount," she added.
